This term, like “full blood” and “half-breed,” emerged in association with 18th- and 19th-century ideas of racial difference. In this period, racial sciences, based on the idea of biologically different races, were at their peak (see also “Race”). Blood, it was thought then, was also regarded as carrying hierarchical traits, with some blood being superior to others. The term is usually applied to someone of mixed White European and Non-White descent. This term is similar to other terms (in this list) such as “mulatto” and “mestizo”.